Top 3 Tips for Becoming a Zombie!

Maybe it’s our slight obsession with The Walking Dead, entire childhood being scared of movies like "Night of the Living Dead," or just our general curiosity of the UNdead, but when we found out about Zombie Camp at Zombie Manor, a camp dedicated to being the best sack of festering skin and sticking-out bones, we said “where do we sign up?”

For those of you who love Halloween, Zombie Manor is a themed haunted house in Arlington and has been voted one of the scariest in DFW. We believe it—it’s definitely the most detailed and dedicated.

Every year, Dean, the owner of Zombie Manor (he's the guy on the far left in the photo of four guys), holds an acting camp for his performers and volunteers, thus the birth of Zombie Camp. They bring in acting coach Allen Hopps and his team from Stiltbeast Studios and teach the staff everything they need to know about how to act, walk, groan and moan like zombies. These guys take playing dead seriously, and it shows! After all, nobody likes a half dead performance.

Top 3 Tips for Becoming a Zombie:

As a zombie, you’re making a promise to eat some brains – don’t be afraid to commit. To be a good zombie, the victim really has to believe you want to snack on their organs. There’s no such thing as a vegetarian zombie, THEY WANT HUMAN BRAINS! Lunge at them. Go for the eyes, and don't forget your Ranch dressing.

Respect the scare range – 3 feet or 3 inches, there are specific guidelines for how to scare. As a zombie, you’re always doing one of three: threatening action, acknowledging your prey, or distracting your victim. You can’t threaten someone from 4 feet back, that’s just not believable. But, you CAN distract them enough to give your zombie buddies the chance to chow down on the slow ones.

Look the part – To be a zombie, you must look like a zombie. Dab some blood around the mouth, make sure you have lifeless, graying skin with maybe a few deep cuts, and parts of your body that look rotted. This is your chance to dive in (to the cemetery)!

After camp, we got a sneak peek at how the makeup team prepares for fright night. The talented ensemble of makeup experts gave us a Zombie Makeover (see us mid-zombie in the pictures above). If you want to see the whole before and after process, check out our Facebook Album. For a preview of Zombie Manor, visit their YouTube channel (Warning: some of the videos are a little creepy). Zombie Manor officially opens Friday, (September) the 13th (!) through Halloween Thursday, October 31.